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From Homeless Vet to hiring Vets!

A single day’s work can be transformative for any Veteran, especially one fighting his way back from homelessness and addiction. I know this because I am a Veteran and was once in need of not only a well-paying job but a safe place to live. I got both with help from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and formed my company, Veterans Moving Help, to provide the dignity of work to other Veterans.

My journey wasn’t easy. I’d been in the U.S. Army and benefited from its strong support system. When I returned home in 1987, I lost that system. Living in a rough neighborhood in Florida, a drinking habit became a full-fledged addiction to alcohol and drugs, including crack cocaine. Connections to family, including my daughter, frayed. I was homeless, living in abandoned homes or shelters. This was my situation for the better part of two decades.

Time after time, I vowed to be a better father to my daughter. I wanted to get clean, but couldn’t break the cycle. Then one day a fellow Veteran who’d faced similar struggles came back to our neighborhood from a VA substance use treatment center. He was sober and healthy and now owned a car.

A Fresh Start and Safe Housing

He inspired me to seek help from VA, and I enrolled in a 60-day substance use inpatient program run by the North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System. I received care from a number of high-quality counselors, many of whom were Veterans who related to my situation. They provided constructive advice and helped me begin my recovery.

Another turning point was getting set up in bridge housing funded by VA’s Health Care for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) program. Having a safe, stable place to live gave me the peace of mind to focus on my skills as an entrepreneur. While there, I had access to a number of other VA resources, including the (now-expired) Veterans Retraining Assistance Program (VRAP), which gave me business management training. Through VA dental services, my teeth were fixed, which boosted my self-confidence.

A New Career Begins

Eventually I got the idea to focus on a career in moving services.

I started by taking a job advertised on Craigslist. Enlisting a few of the homeless Veterans I was living with in the bridge housing, we loaded and unloaded some self-service moving trucks. It was hard work, but we built a real camaraderie that day. We were proud to work again and put money in our pockets to support ourselves. Demand for our services grew as more and more people in the community heard about the opportunity to hire Veteran movers.

What started as a few homeless Veterans unloading trucks in Florida has now grown into a national company called Veterans Moving Help, which I formed in 2013. People email me requesting moving support, and I connect them to majority-Veteran moving crews.

These jobs pay about $25/hour. We work in cities across the country, including Atlanta, Phoenix and Washington, DC. We move homes, offices, truckloads and just about anything else. I was honored recently to move a 92-year-old World War II Veteran who was a member of the Tuskegee Airmen “Red Tails” fighter squadron.

Former Tuskegee Airman Stephen Lawrence shakes the hand of Veterans Moving Help’s owner Gregory Sledge, who helped move the 92-year-old World War II Veteran from his Gainesville, Florida, home to an assisted living facility.

For now the moving jobs are temporary, and driven by local demand. However, I hope to expand and employ Veterans full time. Currently, I am exploring opportunities in three areas: packing and unpacking rental containers, moves on military bases and jobs moving assisted living residents. This summer, during the peak moving season, I expect to employ more than 250 individuals — the vast majority Veterans — for jobs nationwide.

Apply Now

Peak moving season is around the corner, and I need Veteran movers, including those who are experienced, licensed and insured (although these are not necessarily required). If you, or a Veteran you know, are interested in this employment opportunity, fill out this application on our website. Anyone can hire Veterans Moving Help by reserving our moving services online.

Being able to form Veterans Moving Help fulfills my lifelong goal to become a business owner and keep my work in the military and Veteran family. I hope my story inspires other Veterans to keep striving, even when success seems impossible, because dreams really can come true.

Patriotic Hearts' mission is to create effective economic stability and enhancement programs that assists U.S. Military, veterans and their families and aids their return to the civilian sector as healthy, successful and important contributors to the American way of life; and, to educate the US citizenry about their valiant sacrifices and value to our nation.

Job Fairs

HirePatriots has hosted many job fairs for the U.S. military and veterans. HirePatriots has a stellar reputation with businesses across America and the world. And of course, we are highly regarded by the U.S. military.

Veteran Entrepreneur Mentoring

HirePatriots vigorously seeks to support veterans who have chosen to start their own businesses. We believe that this is crucial to the rebuilding of the American economy and to employing more of our transitioned U.S. military. HirePatriots has created a valuable training and support program for U.S Veteran entrepreneurs. We use the combined business acumen of our multiple HirePatriots’ business leaders to provide step-by-step hands on business development training.

Military Marriage Enrichment Retreats

Our military’s emotional and psychological health, as well as their professionalism is largely dependent upon the health of their relationships with their immediate family members. The divorce rate has risen as high as 90% on bases with frequent combat deployments. Military wives call it "The Plague."

Patriotic Hearts hosts military marriage enrichment retreats to strengthen military and veterans’ marriages. The theme of our retreats is "Love and Respect." They last from Friday night until Sunday afternoon. We continue to follow each couple closely after the retreats. And we have had wonderful success in keeping marriages and families united. These are all-expenses paid retreats.

Financial Wellness

Patriotic Hearts provides training on how to manage personal and family income, through seminars, retreats and online. This is a unique and comprehensive 5 point Financial Wellness series of workshop courses that has been specifically designed for veterans, active duty, and military families. It is a customized, financial wellness curriculum that focuses on helping our heroes and their families understand their particular spending personalities. Then we teach the essentials of money management. And we also explain the necessity for multiple streams of income and investment strategies.

Career & Personal Counseling

Many qualified volunteers offer to give professional counseling to US veterans’ career search. And marriage counselors, PTSD experts and licensed psychologists also donate their time and services.

School Kids Program

A wonderful result of our increasing popularity has been that public schools are adopting Patriotic Hearts and HirePatriots as a community service project. These schools receive their own HirePatriots.com website, and the students fill it with their patriotic efforts, essays, videos and pictures. We are also writing a curriculum and a book to promote this program and make it a perpetual part of our American fabric.

Educational Endeavors

In the last 50 years the American population has gone from 90% of American males being US military veterans to less than 1% of our current generation. And further reductions in our nation’s Armed Forces are being planned. There now exists a tremendous vacuum of understanding and appreciation for the important role veterans and their families play in keeping America a safe haven for democracy and freedom. In response, Patriotic Hearts trains patriotic citizens to speak and seeks out opportunities on TV, radio, in the press, and at community events, associations, clubs and schools for them teach about US veterans’ sacrifices and critical role in preserving our way of life.

Veterans Green Program

In order to raise funds for our Patriotic Hearts programs we are asking companies to donate their e-waste to us. Those companies will receive a certificate of donation from our non-profit. We will hire US veterans to pick up and recycle their waste. And we will be able to fund the vital programs we provide with that assistance.